Curvature Singularities: the Good, the Bad, and the Naked

TL;DR

This paper investigates conditions under which singular solutions in five-dimensional gravity are physically acceptable, emphasizing the importance of bounded scalar potentials and discussing implications for the cosmological constant problem.

Contribution

It proposes necessary conditions for the physical admissibility of singular solutions in 5D gravity with scalars, linking bounded scalar potentials to solution validity and addressing cosmological constant issues.

Findings

Bounded scalar potentials are necessary for physical solutions.

Finite temperature analysis supports the conjecture about scalar potential bounds.

Restrictions on naked singularities inform cosmological constant problem discussions.

Abstract

Necessary conditions are proposed for the admissibility of singular classical solutions with 3+1-dimensional Poincare invariance to five-dimensional gravity coupled to scalars. Finite temperature considerations and examples from AdS/CFT support the conjecture that the scalar potential must remain bounded above for a solution to be physical. Having imposed some restrictions on naked singularities allows us to comment on a recent proposal for solving the cosmological constant problem.